Method of forming knitted fabric

ABSTRACT

METHOD OF FORMING DESIGN STITCHES IN COURSES OF A FLAT KNITTED FABRIC BY INDIVIDUALLY TRANSFERRING THE STITCHES IN GROUPS OF WALES IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS FROM THE WALES IN WHICH THE STITCHES ARE ORIGINALLY FORMED TO OTHER WALES IN THE GROUPS.

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-Aw 1 u United States Patent O 3,566,620 METHOD F FORMING KNITTED FABRICHerbert E. Haehnel, Reading, Pa., assignor to North American RockwellCorporation, Pittsburgh, Pa. Continuation-impart of application Ser. No.552,334, May 23, 1966. This application July 22, 1966, Ser. No. 567,128

Int. Cl. D04b 15/04 U.S. Cl. 66-96 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSUREMethod of forming design stitches in courses of a flat knitted fabric byindividually transferring the stitches in groups of wales in oppositedirections from the wales in which the stitches are originally formed toother Wales in the groups.

This invention relates to flat selvaged fabric blanks and moreparticularly to a method of forming cable stitch patterns in such fabricblanks, the present application being a continuationdn-part of myapplication Ser. No. 552,334, led May 23, 1966, as to all subject mattercommon thereto.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method of forming cablestitch patterns in fabric blanks knitted on full-fashioned knittingmachines with a lesser number of operations of the transfer points thenrequired in my said prior application.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a method of knittingflat fabric blanks on full-fashioned knitting machines in which stitchesinitially formed on groups of needles are individually transferred inopposite directions to other needles of the groups to produce cablestitch patterns in the fabric blanks.

With these and other objects in View which will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of the illustrative embodiments of theinvention shown in the accompanying drawings, the invention resides inthe novel fabric and in the method of making the same, as hereinaftermore particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the stitch formation of one form offabric made in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. l showing another form of fabric madeaccording to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a view diagrammatically illustrating the sequence of stepsrequired in forming the design stitch courses of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating a modified sequence ofsteps required in forming the design stitch courses of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown portions of fabrics havingcable stitch patterns according to the invention which are adapted to beknitted on bearded needles of the machine of said application Ser. No.552,334. In the fabric of FIG. l the cable stitches are shown formed bya single transfer point 9 in a series of five-needle stitch wales whichare initially knitted on a group of ve of the needles indicated at 10a,10b, 10c, 10d and 10e in FIG. 3. The group of needles is flanked atopposite ends by dummy or non-knitting needles 11, from which the beardsare removed, around which yarn is measured by the sinkers of the machineto provide additional yarn for the cable stitches and to form a wideWale 12 between the cable stitch Wales and the wales of the adjacentplain stitch portions of the fabric knitted on adjacent needles 10 ofthe machine. The fabric courses in which the cable stitches are formed,indicated at 15,

Patented Mar. 2, 1971 are shown separated by three plain stitch courses16.

Each of the courses 15 is formed by the sequence of steps indicated at Ato H during which the single point 9 is initially aligned with the groupof needles 10a to 10e from which the stitches are to be removed and thenshifted to transfer the stitches to other needles of the group by themeans and in the manner set forth in said application Ser. No. 552,334.Following knitting of the course of stitches as indicated in step A thesingle point 9 is initially positioned in alignment with needle 10e, asindicated in dotted outline in step B. After the stitch on the needle10e is removed by the point, the point is shifted one needle to the leftto transfer the stitch to needle 10d to double it with the stitch knitby needle 10d to complete step B. In step C the point 9 is aligned withneedle 10b and following removal of the stitch on needle 10b, the pointis shifted three needles to the right to transfer the stitch thereon toneedle 10e. During step D the point is aligned with the needle 10c andfollowing removal of the stitch on needle 10c the point is shifted oneneedle to the left to transfer the stitch thereon to needle 10b. Duringstep E the point is aligned with needle 10d. Following removal of thedoubled stitches from needle 10d, the point is again shifted one needleto the left to transfer the doubled stitches thereon to the needle 10c.

In step F the point is aligned with needle 10a and following the removalof the stitch on needle 10a, the point is shifted three needles to theright to transfer the stitch thereon to needle 10d. During step G thepoint 9 is aligned with the needle 10b. Following removal of the stitchon needle 10b the point is shifted one needle to the left to transferthe stitch thereon to needle 10a. In the step H the point is alignedwith needle 10c and after removal of the doubled stitches on needle 10cthe point is shifted one needle to the left to transfer the stitches onthe point to needle 10b to complete the course 15. Following the laststitch transferring operation to complete the step H, the stitchinitially formed by needle 10c is on needle 10a, the stitches initiallyformed by needles 10d and 10e are on needle 10b and the stitchesinitially formed by needles 10a and 10b are on needles 10d and 10e,respectively.

In the fabric of FIG. 2, the cable stitch courses 15 alternate withcable stitch courses 20. The courses 15 are formed by the steps A-H ofFIG. 3 and the courses 20 are formed by similar steps except that wherecertain of the stitches in course 15 are transferred in singleneedlemovements to the left and other of the stitches are transferred inthree-needle movements to the right, the transfer movements of thestitches in courses 20 are reversed so that certain of the stitches aretransferred to the right in single-needle movements and others of thestitches are transferred to the left in three-needle movements.

FIG. 4 illustrates the sequence of steps required in forming the cablestitch pattern of FIG. l on a so-called half gauge machine adapted toknit Very coarse fabric. In the half gauge machine alternate needles 10are replaced by dummy or non-knitting needles 11 of the type employed toform wide wales 12 in the fabric of FIGS. l and 2 and around which yarnis measured by the sinkers of the machine to provide additional yarn forthe coarse stitches formed by the needles 10, as set forth in saidapplication Ser. No. 552,334. As shown in FIG. 4 the cable stitchpattern is formed on a group of five knitting needles 10f to 10j whichalternate with non-knitting needles 11 and the end needles 10,1c and 10jof the group are separated from adjacent needles by two of thenon-knitting needles.

The sequence of steps to form a cable stitch course similar to course 15of FIGS. l and 2 on the half gauge machine are indicated at J to S withstep .l illustrating the course as it is initially formed by theneedles. Following knitting of the course of stitches of step I thepoint 9 is aligned with needle 10j, as indicated in dotted outline instep K. After the stitch on needle 10j is removed by the point it isshifted to the left to transfer the stitch to the needle 10i to doubleit with the stitch initially knit by needle 10i to complete step K. Instep L the point, as indicated in dotted outline, is aligned with needle10g and after removal of the stitch on needle 10g the point is shiftedto the right to transfer the stitch to the non-knitting needle 11intermediate the needles 10h and 10i.

During stem M the point is again aligned with the nonknitting needle 11between needles 10h and 10i and after removal of the stitch from thenon-knitting needle the point is shifted to the right to transfer thestitch to needle 10j. In step N the point 9 is aligned with needle 1011and after removal of the stitch on needle 10h, the point is shifted tothe left to transfer the stitch to needle 10g. In step O the point isaligned with the needle 10i. After removal of the doubled stitches fromneedle 10i, the point is shifted to the left to transfer these stitchesto needle 10h. In step P the point is aligned with the needle 10,7c andafter the stitch on needle ltlf is removed the point is shifted to theright to transfer the stitch to the non-knitting needle 11 intermediateneedles 10g and 10h. During step Q the point is again aligned with thenon-knitting needle intermediate needles 10g7 and 10h and after thestitch is removed from the non-knitting needle, the point is shifted tothe right t transfer the stitch thereon to needle i.

In step R the point is aligned `with needle 10g and after removal of thestitch from needle 10g the point is shifted to the left to transfer thestitch to needle 10j. In step S the point is aligned with needle 10h andafter removal of the doubled stitches from needle 10h the point isshifted to the left to transfer these stitches to needle 10g tocornplete the cable stitch course. Following the last stitchtransferring operation of step S the stitch initially formed by needle10h is on needle 10f, the stitches initially formed by needles 10i and10j are on needle 10g and the stitches initially formed by needles 107cand 10g are on needles 10i and 10j, respectively.

Where it is desired to also form courses similar to courses of FIG. 2 onthe half gauge machine, the transfer movements of the point in steps Kto S are reversed so that the stitches transferred to the left in FIG. 4will be transferred to the right and those stitches transferred to theright in FIG. 4 will be transferred to the left.

The instant invention provides a method of forming a cable stitchpattern in fabric knitted on the needles of a full-gauge knittingmachine with a single transferring point in seven transferring steps andon the needles of a so-called half-gauge machine in nine transferringsteps as compared with the eight step method required in the full-gaugemachine and the ten step method required for half-gauge machine asdisclosed in said application Ser. No. 552,334. The invention alsoprovides a method of forming the cable stitch pattern with a reducednumber of transferring steps as compared to other known methods in whicha single point is employed.

It will be understood that the improvements specifically shown anddescribed by which the above results are obtained, can `be changed andmodified in various ways without departing from the invention hereindisclosed and hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of forming design stitches in a fiat fabric comprising thestep of, forming a course of stitches of said fabric on knitting needlesof a knitting machine, and the steps of individually transferring thestitches formed on a group of five of said needles to form said designstitches in said course, comprising transferring a stitch formed by afirst knitting needle at one side of said group in one direction to thesecond knitting needle of said group to double it with a stitch formedby said second knitting needle, and manipulating said doubled stitcheson said second knitting needle and the stitches initially formed by thethird, fourth and fifth knitting needles of said group in a sequence totransfer said stitch on said fourth knitting needle to said firstneedle, to transfer said doubled stitches on said second needle to saidfourth needle, to transfer said stitch on said fifth needle to saidsecond needle, and to transfer said stitch on said third needle to saidfifth needle.

2. A method according to claim 1 in `which said transfer of said stitchfrom said fourth needle to said first needle and said stitch from saidfifth needle to said second needle are in three-needle transferringsteps, and said transfer of said stitch from said third needle to saidfifth needle and said doubled stitches from said second needle to saidfourth needle are in one-needle transferring steps.

3. A method according to claim 2 in which said transfer of said stitchfrom said fourth needle to said first needle and said stitch from saidfifth needle to said second needle are each in one of said three-needletransferring steps, and said transfer of said stitch from said thirdneedle to said fifth needle and said doubled stitches from said secondneedle to said fourth needle are each in two of said oneneedletransferring steps.

4. A method according to claim 1 in which said transferring stepsinclude a first step to transfer said stitch on said first needle tosaid second needle to double it with said stitch on said second needle,a second step to transfer said stitch on said fourth needle to saidfirst needle, a third step to transfer said stitch on said third needleto said fourth needle, a fourth step to transfer said doubled stitchesfrom said second needle to said third needle, a fifth step to transfersaid stitch on said fifth needle to said second needle, a sixth step totransfer said stitch from fourth needle to said fifth needle, and aseventh step to transfer said doubled stitches from said third needle tosaid fourth needle.

5. A method according to claim 4 in which there is a non-knitting needleintermediate the end knitting needles of said group and the otherknitting needles forming stitches in said course, said non-knittingneedle forming a wide wale intermediate the ends of said design stitchesformed on said group of knitting needles and said stitches formed bysaid other knitting needles.

6. A method according to claim 2 in which said group of needles includesfive knitting needles for forming stitches of said course alternatingwith non-knitting needles, and said transfer of said stitch from saidfourth knitting needle to said first knitting needle and said stitchfrom said fifth knitting needle to said second knitting needle are intransferring steps equal to three of said knitting and non-knittingneedles, and said transfer of said stitch from said third knittingneedle to said fifth knitting needle and said doubled stitches from saidsecond knitting needle to said fourth knitting needle are intransferring steps equal to two of said knitting and non-knittingneedles.

7. A method according to claim 6 in which said transfer of said stitchfrom said fourth knitting needle to said first knitting needle and saidstitch from said fifth knitting needle to said second knitting needleare each in two of said three-needle transferring steps, and saidtransfer of said stitch from said third knitting needle to said fifthknitting needle and said doubled stitches from said second knittingneedle to said fourth knitting needle are each in two of said two-needletransferring steps.

8. A method according to claim 7 in which said stitch on said fourthknitting needle and said stitch on said fifth knitting needle aretransferred to a non-knitting needle Vduring one of said three-needletransferring steps thereof.

9. The method of forming design stitches in a fiat fabric comprising thestep of forming a course of stitches of said fabric on knitting needlesof a knitting machine, and the steps of individually transferring thestitches formed on a group of five of said needles to form said designstitches in said course, comprising first transferring a stitch formedon one of the two needles on one side of said group a distance of oneneedle toward the other side of said group to double it with a stitchformed by the adjacent needle to which it is transferred, then secondlytransferring a stitch formed on one of the two needles on the other sideof said group over a plurality of needle distances to the needle of theone side of said group from which said rst transfer was elected,continuing to transfer stitches from said group of needles a distance ofone needle in the direction of said first transfer and a distance ofsaid same plurality of needles in the direction of said second transferuntil the stitches initially formed on the two needles of said one sideare located on one of said two needles on the other side, the stitchesinitially formed on the two needles on said other side are located onthe two needles of said one side, and the stitch initially formed on themiddle needle of said group is located on one of the two needles of saidother side.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Bitzer 66-96 Bitzer 66-96 Lambach66-96 Golaski 66--96 Golaski 66-96 Brown et al. 66-96 Harrison et al.66-96 Harrison et al. 66-96 Boutillette et al. `66-96 Kaltsas et al.66-96 RONALD FELDBAUM, Primary Examiner

